Saturday, August 24, 2024
Doors open at 6:30pm - Show begins at 7:30 pm
When it comes to Creole roots and Zydeco rhythms, Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience represent hard. They also represent the past, present and future of Black American roots music. Fronted by two-time Grammy award winning 8th generation Louisiana Creole, Simien and his six piece multigenerational and multicultural group have become one of the most respected and in demand groups in American roots music. They are highly skilled, formally trained and very experienced performers! In every profession, experience still matters - a lot. Their hypnotic brew of zydeco-roots-reggae-folk-soul-gospel-New Orleans jazz and funk is carefully created to lift your spirits higher and force your body onto the dance floor to move and groove!
True to himself and his deep Creole roots, Simien personifies authenticity as he pushes the boundaries of his genre to elevate its visibility and access. Now enjoying OG (legendary) status of an accomplished 40+ year career, Simien with his loyal bandmates and creative collaborators, have toured to more than 40 countries and performed over 8500 concerts. Their Creole for Kidz and the History of Zydeco educational program and performance developed 24 years ago for K-12 and college students, has helped raise the cultural IQ of more than 250,000 students, parents and teachers around the globe.
Their music has been featured in multiple theatre released films and the band has made on screen appearances as well. One of their proudest accomplishments was having zydeco (animated firefly characters played the accordion and rubboard) an important part of an historical Disney film, The Princess and the Frog that featured their first Black princess. Terrance collaborated with the great Randy Newman on the zydeco song for the movie soundtrack, but even more significant was having the word zydeco spoken in the film! In 2024 the band also contributed a song to the new Disney park ride, “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.” Their music has also been the bed to many TV adverts. They’ve had feature stories in every major newspaper and respected music publications, like Rolling Stone and Billboard Magazine. They’ve recorded with the likes of Paul Simon, Art Neville, Dennis Quaid, the Meters, Marcia Ball and Dr. John. They’ve toured with Los Lobos, the late Robert Palmer, Dave Matthews Band and even shared the stage with Steve Wonder.
Zydeco is the traditional roots music of the Black and multiracial, French speaking Creoles of Louisiana. The main instruments are accordion and frottoir (rubboard) driven by African and Caribbean rhythms. In the case of this dynamic group, all of it’s anchored by astonishing lead vocals and harmonies. The core group is Terrance Simien, Danny Williams (keyboards, vocals), Stan Chambers (bass guitar, vocals), Ian Molinaro-Thompson (drum kit), Michael Christie (trumpet) and Noah Boshra (saxophone).
Read more about TERRANCE SIMIEN & THE ZYDECO EXPERIENCE at https://www.terrancesimien.com...
